Warning: This page contains spoilers for the May 18, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Billboard No. 1 Hits) for Thursday, May 18, 2023 (Season 39, Game 179):
Billy Joel said, “I think the one time I didn’t write the music” before the lyrics was for this 1989 hit, “and I think it shows”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Kristen Beck, a physician from Seattle, Washington |
John Groves, a legislative technical specialist originally from Forteau, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada |
Ben Chan, a philosophy professor from Green Bay, Wisconsin (6-day total: $182,000) |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Ben Chan has had six runaways in six games. The only other player in Jeopardy! history to have runaways in his first six trips to the stage is Chuck Forrest (5 regular + his ToC quarterfinal). Chuck got a runaway in his ToC semifinal as well, will Ben get runaway #7 tonight? Regardless, Ben’s 6 consecutive runaways is still less than one-quarter of the way to the record; Ken Jennings had 28 consecutive at one point during his streak, from games 21–48 of his run in 2004. Today’s challengers are Kristen Beck from Seattle and John Groves, originally from Forteau, a small town of just over 400 people up in Labrador.
One thing that I would like to point out: I do appreciate that local news website Saltwire got their preview coverage spot on today. There was certainly some hand-wringing back in 2018 when Kirsten Morry became the first known contestant to be introduced as being from Newfoundland and Labrador, with claims that there had been others—claims that have still yet to have been actually verified four and a half years later. So, we now have our second player to have been introduced as being from Newfoundland and Labrador; John Groves will be a result in that J! Archive search later today.
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Correct response: What is “We Didn’t Start The Fire”?
You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 15 players, including Matt Amodio, Jonathan Fisher, Amy Schneider, Mattea Roach, Ryan Long, and Cris Pannullo, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
“We Didn’t Start The Fire” was Billy Joel’s third and final Billboard Hot 100 #1 song; Joel had just turned 40 and a conversation with a 21-year-old friend of Sean Lennon, where the friend said that “nothing happened in the ’50s”; Joel, immediately knowing of the Korean War and the Suez Crisis, got the idea to catalog many of the things that had happened in the world since his 1949 birth. Joel hated the song from a musical perspective, referring to the melody as “like a dentist drill”.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, May 18, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: On A Visit To The State Capital; Restaurants; Magazines; The Arts; The World Of Hanna-Barbera; Before & Actor)
Missing the Daily Double didn’t affect Ben; he got 16 other clues correct in the round and his lead was more than $6,000 at the second commercial break!
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Ben 7 correct 1 incorrect
Kristen 2 correct 0 incorrect
John 2 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Kristen just got married in Mexico.
John believes he is the first-ever contestant from Labrador.
Ben inherited his watch from his father.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Ben 16 correct 1 incorrect
John 5 correct 0 incorrect
Kristen 3 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Ben $7,800
John $1,600
Kristen $1,000
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: International Movies?; Flags Of Spanish-Speaking Nations; Organizations; It All Starts With “U”; History; Repeats Itself)
In amongst the 18 correct responses he gave were both Daily Doubles for Ben—we had another rout going into Final!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Ben 34 correct 1 incorrect
Kristen 7 correct 1 incorrect
John 9 correct 1 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Ben $31,000
Kristen $4,600
John $4,400
John and Ben got Final today—Ben’s now a 7-day champion with 7 runaways!
Tonight’s results:
John $4,400 + $201 = $4,601 (What is “We Didn’t Start the Fire”?)
Kristen $4,600 – $199 = $4,401 (What is Uptown Girl?)
Ben $31,000 + $0 = $31,000 (What is We Didn’t Start The Fire!?) (7-day total: $213,000)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) THE ARTS $1000 (clue #4)
Ben 1800 -1800 (John 0 Kristen 0)
2) ORGANIZATIONS $1200 (clue #9)
Ben 17800 +4000 (John 800 Kristen 1000)
3) REPEATS ITSELF $1200 (clue #18, $8400 left on board)
Ben 26200 +800 (John 3600 Kristen 1000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -74
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Ben 4 5 4 5*
John
Kristen
DJ! Round:
Ben 5 4 5 3 5 4 3* 2 3 5 4 3 5 3*
John 4 4 4
Kristen 3
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Ben 4.00
John 4.00
Kristen 3.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.15 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Ben $30,400 Coryat, 34 correct, 1 incorrect, 56.14% in first on buzzer (32/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
John $4,400 Coryat, 9 correct, 1 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Kristen $4,600 Coryat, 7 correct, 1 incorrect, 14.04% in first on buzzer (8/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Combined Coryat Score: $39,400
Lach Trash: $10,600 (on 9 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $4,000
Player Statistics:
Ben Chan, career statistics:
205 correct, 15 incorrect
7/9 on rebound attempts (on 25 rebound opportunities)
46.62% in first on buzzer (186/399)
15/18 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $38,205)
6/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $24,114
John Groves, career statistics:
10 correct, 1 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $4,400
Kristen Beck, career statistics:
7 correct, 2 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
14.04% in first on buzzer (8/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $4,600
Ben Chan, to win:
8 games: 81.395%
9: 66.251%
10: 53.924%
11: 43.892%
12: 35.725%
Avg. streak: 11.375 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Two thumbs up to Mayim for her proper pronunciation of Newfoundland. Two thumbs down to Johnny for his mispronunciation of it.
- This isn’t Wheel of Fortune; while there were a few seconds between the phrasing and the response on the last Daily Double, the pause doesn’t invalidate the phrasing (like it apparently does on Wheel.)
- Today’s box score: May 18, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Ben $31,000 Kristen $4,600 John $4,400)
Ben: Limit your bet to $21,799. (Actual bet: $0)
John: Bet between $401 (thereby defending against Kristen’s low range) and $3,999. (Actual bet: $201)
Kristen: Standard cover bet over John is $4,201. (Actual bet: $199)
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